Weicker Repaying His Allies

Grants Tour May Help Income-tax Backers Stay In Legislature

Weicker Repaying Legislative Allies On Economic Development Tour

As Gov. Lowell P. Weicker Jr.'s economic-development road show rolls from town to town, he's doing his best to save jobs -- legislators' jobs.

The ostensible purpose of his tour, which last week included stops in Middletown, Stafford, New Britain and Torrington, is to announce grants and loans to local businesses to preserve and create jobs.

But there are jobs at stake in Hartford, too, and the road show is an integral part of a concerted effort by Weicker to help his allies in the General Assembly hold on to their seats in the Nov. 3 election.

His visit to Stafford Wednesday afternoon was a case in point, as he toured a local textile mill that is modernizing with the help of a state grant.

In tow were three legislators who represent Stafford and neighboring towns -- three legislators whose votes for Weicker's income tax have put their political careers in jeopardy.

The next day, Weicker was in New Britain to announce a loan guarantee to help D & L Venture Corp., owner of D & L and Weathervane stores, stock their shelves for the Christmas shopping season.

Arrayed behind him as he spoke to 200 D & L employees in the company's parking lot were five New Britain legislators.

He also visited an old school in the Rockville section of Vernon Thursday that's to be renovated into a courthouse with $20 million in state money. Joining him on stage were local lawmakers who, he said, deserved all the credit.

There's nothing new about a governor using the powers of his office to help his party's legislative candidates in the midterm elections. And it's routine for a governor to help raise money for the campaigns, and to make endorsements and commercials to help individual candidates.

But when Weicker won the governorship in 1990 as a third-party

candidate, while the Democrats maintained control of the House and Senate, nobody could have foreseen what his role might be in the 1992 elections.

The giant income-tax battle of 1991 helped determine that, as Weicker barely mustered the votes to pass the tax after a six-month impasse.

The vigorous campaign to promote the re-election of the people who gave him the votes he needed is, some might say, the least he can do.

Will it work?

"This is very helpful to us," said state Rep. Nancy S. Wyman, D-Tolland, who faces a tough re-election challenge from Republican Kathleen W. Bach.

"It basically shows what the income tax, and the economic plan, is doing," said Wyman, who joined the governor in both Stafford and Vernon. "It talks about jobs, which is the No. 1 issue in the campaign."

Sen. Marie A. Herbst, D-Vernon, also participated in both events.

"I think it's very positive," she said in Stafford. "He is saying that, working together, we can keep Connecticut working. That's been my slogan in my campaign." Tony Guglielmo, the Stafford Republican running against Herbst, said he doesn't believe she will benefit at all from Weicker's assistance.

"It's nothing more than a political payback," he said. "As long as we can explain that, it's the kind of thing that voters are disgusted with."

One thing he'll suggest is that voters consider the timing of the tour, which came a month after the grant was announced.

Guglielmo also argued that the grant -- $800,000 -- was "pocket change" to the Warren Corp., the multinational company that owns the mill, and could not have been that important in the decision to modernize and expand.

A financial breakdown of the $21 million project -- $20 million is the company's own money -- lends some credence to that argument.

Tony Morianos, the Republican candidate for Stafford's seat in the House, echoed the point.

"It's a worldwide company. That [$800,000] was like a drop in the bucket to them," he said. "They no more needed that than Mobil needs another gallon of gas."

Whether or not that's true, Rep. John D. Mordasky, the Democrat seeking a seventh term in the seat Morianos wants, said the announcement that Warren would stay in Stafford and upgrade its plant was enormously beneficial to his campaign.

"This was the turning point," Mordasky said. "It showed exactly what the state [economic] program was doing and the success of it. There's nothing like it being in your hometown." Although some on Weicker's staff have downplayed the political nature of what has become a whirlwind tour of factory gates, his own speeches make no bones about what he's up to.

In New Britain, he flat out asked the crowd of D & L employees to vote for legislators who supported the income tax, saying they balanced the budget and allowed him to undertake the economic program that might save their jobs.

"Don't you let a bunch of wimps go walking into that legislature and bankrupt the state again," Weicker said.

In Vernon, he said the courthouse project was possible because

"we have the money," and that would not have been the case without courageous votes by the legislators on the stage with him.